Overview
Driving Enterprise Transformation Together
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Rutter Center, UCSF Mission Bay Campus
About This Event
The 3rd Annual Continuous Improvement Conference
This event is centered on developing the people in our organization, developing capability and skills needed to further advance a culture of continuous improvement in a time of technology transformation, embedding enterprise thinking and Lean problem solving habits into daily operations.
Driving Enterprise Transformation Together
Our theme this year is Driving Enterprise Transformation Together. Nobody solves an access problem, a handoff problem, or a waste problem alone. But most of us try, because we don't know that a team two buildings over already worked it out. By coming together to share what we've solved, we can, as a community move forward with consistency and innovation.
Whether you've run a dozen A3's or have never heard the term, this day is built for you. You do not need a background in Lean, quality improvement, or process design. You just need to be curious about how everyday processes have the potential for improvement.
Registration
Registration is now Open!
Registration for this event is free!
How to register:
- Click this link: Register for the Third Annual Continuous Improvement Conference
- Enter your name, UCSF email address, and department into the appropriate fields.
The best user experience will be through our CI Conference App
How to create your personalized Itinerary (and sign up for Breakout Sessions)
How-To Guide for Apple
How-To Guide for Android
- Download the mobile app via this link
- Log in
- In the Mobile app, there is a hamburger (three horizontal lines). This is where you can access the schedule to select your breakout sessions. To add a breakout session to your personalized itinerary, press the + button. To learn more about individual breakout sessions, click on the breakout session block.
For news and updates, please join this newsletter. If you have any issues with the app, contact [email protected]
Event Agenda
- 8:30-9:00 am | Check-In & Refreshments | 2nd Floor Hallway
- 9:00-9:45 am | Welcome | Robertson Auditorium
- 9:45-11:00 am | Keynote Address | Robertson Auditorium
- 11:15 am-12:00 pm | Breakout Session Block 1 | Conference Rooms & Robertson Auditorium
- | Booths Open & Poster Catchball Cafe| Fisher
- 12:00-12:45 pm | Lunch & Networking | Lounge & Booths/ Posters in Fisher
- 1:00- 1:45 pm | Breakout Session Block 2 | Conference Rooms & Robertson Auditorium
- 2:00-2:45 pm | Breakout Session Block 3 | Conference Rooms & Robertson Auditorium
- 3:00-3:30 pm | Networking & Booths/ Posters | Fisher
- 3:30-4:00 pm | Closing | Robertson Auditorium
Create your personalized itinerary on our app!
Our History
Two Years in, Onward and Upward
In 2024 we held our inaugural CI Fair. Hosted by SVC Erin Gore and the FAS Continuous Improvement Steering Committee, this event focused mainly on improvement projects in Finance and Administration. Following the success of the first CI Fair, in 2025 we decided to open the event to the enterprise with the help of our executive sponsor, EVCP Catherine Lucey to great success. The second year of the CI Fair incorporated new elements such as poster sessions, breakout sessions, and a leadership panel. We also had the esteemed Katie Anderson keynote. For more information on last year's event, please visit: 2025 CI Fair or view this recap video.
This year we have increased capacity to use both floors of the Rutter Center, allowing for dedicated space for booths, posters, and more seats to see the keynote speaker.
Conference Program and Activities
Breakout sessions are short 25 or 45-minute sessions led by your UCSF colleagues. These sessions are held in the 5 conference rooms in the upstairs portion of the Rutter Center.
Breakout sessions can either be a deep dive into one improvement effort or an interactive learning session.
- A deep dive into one improvement effort involves a team walking through a real project at UCSF: what the problem was, what they tried, what the data showed, what worked, and what they'd do differently.
- An interactive learning session is meant to be a learning activity: mapping a process, drafting an A3, playing a game that illustrates an improvement concept.
How to Get a Seat
Breakout session registration will be available through the official CI Conference app. Most sessions will fill quickly, and we recommend reserving your seat as soon as breakout sessions become available.
If a session you want is full, you will automatically be added to a waitlist. Sessions with long waitlists may be moved into a larger room, allowing for participants on the waitlist to be admitted. In the event that more seats are added, participants will be notified via the CI Conference App.
Please be mindful when registering for breakout sessions that you are not overlapping activities.
Booths are interactive displays that represent a large improvement effort, a department that works heavily in process improvement, or an event sponsor. We recommend that your booth be staffed by more than two people to ensure adequate breaks. This is an all-day commitment. Setup generally begins about 2 hours before the event. Each booth is about 6ft by 2.5ft.
We will provide a table, tablecloth, booth sign with your department's name and booth title, and a power source and 43" monitor by request. Booth leads are responsible for any additional print needs. In the past, Booths have included games and prizes, interactive displays, and are generally a lot of fun.
How to Run a Booth
If you're interested in running a Booth for the CI Conference, please write a short proposal about what project or interactive activity you are planning to present and email it to [email protected]
Posters are a visual display of an A3 which describes an improvement effort. Posters will be displayed for the entirety of the event. This year, we will be introducing Catchball Cafe: an interactive process where A3 owners will stand with their posters and engage in a round of catchball for a set period of time.
This is a great process to help improvement efforts take their project to the next step, or to think of new angles in their improvement effort if they're feeling stuck. Remember, yesterday's improvements are tomorrow's problems, and that we work in iterations!
For uniformity, we may ask you to reformat your improvement effort to our A3 Template, which can be found here.
How to Submit a Poster
If you're interested in submitting a poster for the CI Conference, please email your A3 and a brief introduction to [email protected]
Share Your Work- Submissions
Submissions are now closed**
**We are still accepting submissions for Booth and Poster Sessions. If you have an idea for a booth or poster, please email us at [email protected]
We build this conference out of what UCSF teams put forward. If you've improved something, please apply for a Breakout Session, Booth, or Poster
Please consider submitting a proposal even if it isn't finished.
In-progress projects are welcome. Projects that didn't go to plan are welcome. Half of what people take away from this day comes from hearing what didn't work and why. If you tightened a process, cut a wait time, fixed a handoff, reduced a frustration, or tried something that taught you a lot even though it failed, consider submitting a proposal!
Proposal Submission Types and Needs
|
|
Poster |
Booth |
Breakout Session |
What it is |
a one-page visual summary of your project or A3, displayed in the poster room | A staffed table where people come to ask you about your work. Generally fun and interactive | A 25-45 minute session you lead. Either a deep dive into your project or an interactive activity |
Time on the day |
Be at your board for Catchball Cafe; otherwise, you're free to enjoy the conference | AT least one person at the booth throughout the day--teams usually rotate. This is an all-day commitment plus setup and breakdown | 25-45 minutes, plus setup |
Preparation |
An existing A3 reformatted onto our template | Bring Materials, handouts, and anything that helps you explain the work | A few slides or an activity plan |
Best for |
Any completed on in-progress improvement project | Teams with an ongoing large-scale program, or something people will want to ask a lot about, generally engaging and fun with displays and prizes | A project with a story worth 25-45, or a skill you can teach |
For all three:
- Your project title, in plain language. This will go in our program
- Your department or unit
- A primary contact and email
- Two or three sentences on what you did and what changed
- Whether the project is complete, in progress, or didn't go as planned. All three are welcome
- Any accessibility or reasonable accommodation needs, so we can make your session work for everyone
For posters, also:
- Use the conference A3 poster template to help us keep the room consistent and readable
- Plan to have your A3 poster submitted by October 12th to leave us plenty of time to print it
For Booths, also:
- Let us know what you'll need. All booths are equipped with a table and table cloth, but indicate if you will need a power source or monitor.
- Roughly how many people will staff it
For Breakout sessions, also:
- Whether your session is a presentation or interactive activity. This matters if a session proves to be very popular.
- Audio-visual needs
- Please indicate in the description if you anticipate your session to be 25 minutes or 45 minutes.
Not sure whether your work fits? Email [email protected] and lets talk about it.
Keynote: Adam Markel
Adam Markel, JD, is a #1 Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author, resilience researcher, and Co-Founder and Chief Researcher at WORKWELL, a research and advisory firm focused on workplace resilience, culture, and sustainable performance. A former commercial attorney and C-suite leader, he brings more than two decades of experience helping organizations navigate change and lead under pressure, informed by workplace resilience data collected from more than 27,000 participants across leadership, operational, and frontline roles.
His work integrates neuroscience, behavioral science, and organizational psychology to help leaders understand how people adapt under pressure and sustain performance through continuous disruption, translating resilience science and behavior change into strategies teams can apply in real time. He has advised Fortune 500 organizations including Citigroup, Home Depot, CVS Health, and Cisco, as well as institutions across healthcare, financial services, technology, government, and education. He is the bestselling author of Pivot, Change Proof, and Re-Culture, and hosts The Change Proof Podcast.
For more information, visit AdamMarkel.com or WORKWELLlabs.com
Accessibility
UCSF is committed to making this conference accessible to everyone who wants to attend. If you need an accommodation, please tell us in the registration form or email [email protected]